News & Event Details

Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horsehas been a popular choice among readers since its release in 2012. The novel was the People’s Choice Winner of this year’s Canada Reads. With 46 per cent of the total vote, Indian Horse—which was defended by Olympic wrestler Carol Huynh during the debates—was the clear winner. The Canada Reads 2013 champion, February by Lisa Moore, came second with 25 per cent of the vote.

Indian Horse is the story of Saul Indian Horse. Readers meet Saul as an adult and travel, with him, back through his childhood, youth, and early adulthood as he seeks to come to terms with a past that threatens his present and future. Saul’s story is riveting as it unspools through life on the land, family displacement, residential school isolation, affirmation/self preservation in sport (hockey), betrayal, abasement, and a wandering that leads, ultimately, to the beginnings of a restoration of spirit and self.

Indian Horse also won the post of community reading selection in the 10th anniversary First Nation Communities Read because of its uniquely Aboriginal voice, spirit and substance. A jury of librarians from First Nation public libraries in Ontario, with coordination support from Southern Ontario Library Service, selected Indian Horse from more than 35 titles submitted by Canadian publishers. In arriving at its decision, the jury stated, “We are delighted to add First Nation Communities Read endorsement to the significant recognition Indian Horse has already received. The book is strong, humane, and engaging. It is written with immense skill, grace, and power.”

Popular among its young audience, Canada at War: A Graphic History of World War Two, by Paul Kerry and illustrated by Michael Wyatt, has been shortlisted for the 2013/2014 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award. The annual Atlantic Canadian book award allows children to choose their favourite Canadian and Atlantic Canadian books in four categories: English Fiction, English Non-Fiction, French Fiction and French Non-Fiction. The titles are chosen for their literary, cultural and enjoyment factors. In graphic-novel format, fully illustrated and in full-colour, Canada at War shows the growth of a nation’s army, navy and air force through movingly depicted triumphs and tragedies.

Congratulations to Vancouver author Arno Kopecky who has been shortlisted for the Canadian Science Writers’ Association Award for outstanding adult book published in 2012 for his first book, The Devil’s Curve: A Journey into Power and Profit at the Amazon’s Edge. The Devil’s Curve tells the story behind the stand 3,000 Awajun people made against the soldiers trying to dislodge them from Devil’s Curve, the notorious bend in the two-lane highway connecting Peru’s northern Amazon to the outside world.